Eco-commute

After two months of development, junior Eric Thompson-Martin has designed an app for the purpose of promoting clean transportation, called Ecommute. According to Thompson-Martin it is a “rewards program for people who choose to bike” instead of drive.

Thompson-Martin had an opportunity to apply for an environmental conference. For this program Thompson-Martin had to “develop a plan for an environmental protection project that uses technology,” he said. This spurred the development of Ecommute.

Although Thompson-Martin was rejected by the program, he threw himself into developing the app. To engage with Ecommute, the user needs to input four commuter locations, or places “that a person travels to often. These locations could include the gym or your work.”

After imputing the locations, the user opens the app whenever they want to bike. It then tracks how many miles the person commutes.

Ecommute then uses this information to give the biker rewards for the number of miles they have biked. The rewards come from various local businesses in the form of discounts, including Henion Bakery, Central Rock Gym, Go Berry, and Bueno y Sano.

This free app (downloadable on the iphone App store) is just emerging onto the scene. Grant Powicki, a frequent user of Ecommute, said that “the app is nice to use. I enjoy all the rewards that you can get from it.”

Thompson-Martin said, “It is important to promote sustainable forms of transportation.” He believes that everyone needs to make an effort to help save the environment. Biking is an easy way to cut emissions of fossil fuels.